Kevin Magnussen, first Danish poleman in F1 history
With pole position at Interlagos, the Haas driver became the first driver from his country to set the fastest time in a qualifying session.
It took 140 Grand Prix for Kevin Magnussen to finally secure a pole position. Taking advantage of favorable circumstances in qualifying, the Danish driver will start from pole position for the Sprint Race of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The native of Roskilde, a small town west of Copenhagen, is the fifth Danish driver in history to race in Formula 1. Since 1974 and the two Grand Prix races competed by Tom Belso in 1974 with Williams, Jac Nelleman, Jan Magnussen (Kevin’s father), and Nicolas Kiesa have taken turns representing the Danish flag.
Thanks to the Haas driver, Denmark has become the 24th country to have a representative on pole position on a Formula 1 starting grid. It is also the fourth country to have only one representative in history, alongside Poland (Robert Kubica in Bahrain in 2008), Venezuela (Pastor Maldonado in Barcelona in 2012), and Mexico (Sergio Perez in Jeddah in 2022).
Even though it will be difficult for Magnussen to resist the attacks of his competitors, especially those of Max Verstappen who will start right behind him, the Haas driver has a unique opportunity at Interlagos to bring Denmark into the circle of victorious countries in Formula 1.
